Zephaniah 2:12

3. Judgment coming on Ethiopia 2:12

Zephaniah’s oracle against Ethiopia is very brief (cf. Isaiah 18-20; Jeremiah 46; Ezekiel 29-32). Patterson suggested that Zephaniah may have meant Egypt rather than Ethiopia. [Note: Patterson, pp. 349-50.] Biblical Ethiopia occupied the territory now held by southern Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia. The Ethiopians were the southernmost (really southwestern-most) people known to the Judeans. God promised to send His sword against this nation. His instrument of judgment proved to be Nebuchadnezzar who defeated Ethiopia shortly after overrunning all of Judah in 586 B.C. (cf. Ezekiel 30:4-5; Ezekiel 30:9; Ezekiel 30:24-25). The prophet gave no reason for this overthrow, though it must be that Ethiopia shared the same disregard for Yahweh that the other nations he condemned did.